CAMBRIDGE — Ninety workers at one of Cambridge’s oldest manufacturers have been given layoff notices as the company deals with a downturn in business.

Babcock & Wilcox Canada says the cuts, to about 30 per cent of its unionized, hourly workforce at its Coronation Boulevard plant, will take effect in January. Roughly 570 non-unionized salaried workers at that location will not be affected by the layoffs, the company said.

“Right now, we’re experiencing a lull in projects that’s resulting in the need to align our workforce with our workload,” said Natalie Cutler, a company spokesperson. “We hit these fluctuations from time to time where there’s gaps between projects.”

The layoffs were announced internally on Nov. 9, but are just being made public now. The company last laid off workers at the Cambridge plant in 2008, when 48 employees were cut when a contract signed to supply steam generators to an oilsands company was delayed.

The workers in the latest layoffs make equipment for the nuclear and power-generating boiler industries, Cutler said. They’re among 280 hourly workers who are members of the United Steelworkers union.

The cuts are the steepest at Babcock & Wilcox since 2003, when more than 100 workers lost their jobs after a drop in contracts for large steam boilers.

Cutler said the company hopes the workers being laid off in January can be recalled if work picks up at the plant.

It’s anticipated proposed nuclear reactor projects in Ontario could mean there’s more work coming for companies who supply the industry. But any decision on two new potential reactors at the Darlington nuclear station is still many months away.

There were no plans to transfer the local jobs to other locations in the company’s global operations, Cutler said. Laid-off workers will able to get some help through employee assistance programs once the layoffs take effect, she said.

The company also denied the accusations from some workers that the layoffs are part of a larger plan for restructuring.

“That’s simply rumour. Unfortunately, there’s this perception there’s some sort of plan, but that’s not the case,” Cutler said.

“We’ve been in Cambridge for over 150 years with a manufacturing plant. It’s very important for us to continue that. We’re doing everything we can to keep that alive.”